Monday, December 16, 2013

The Catholic Church has urged Sri Lanka to
implement the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission's
recommendations promptly to avert a possible foreign intervention in the
country's sovereign affairs.

Sri Lanka's Most Reverend Cardinal Dr. Malcolm Ranjith said the
government should implement the LLRC recommendations as soon as possible
and urged the government to not allow foreign countries to intervene in
Sri Lanka's internal affairs.

Addressing media at an event at the Sri Lanka Bishop's conference in
Borella today to launch a publication titled "Revival through Local
Unity Alliance" by the Sri Lanka Catholic Bishop's Association. Rev.
Cardinal Ranjith said uncles the government worked towards
reconciliation and addressed allegations of war crimes during the war
against Tamil Tigers, a foreign intervention is inevitable.

Cardinal Ranjith said the problems of the country should be resolved by
"ourselves" through discussions. Problems could not be resolved by
creating conflicts among ethnic groups, he emphasized.

"Foreigners should not tell us what to do... We are not a pack of fools," the Cardinal said.
"But if we do not resolve these issues, then we open ourselves to foreign intervention," he warned.

He stressed that the President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the leaders of the
Tamil party Tamil National Alliance should hammer out the differences to
find a solution to the ethnic issue.

He also noted that steps need to be taken to safeguard the independence of the judiciary.

The document presented by the Archdiocese of Colombo today contains a
set of 42 proposals aiming to improve the moral wellbeing of the
country.

It includes proposals concerning the constitution, independence
of the judiciary, independent commissions and the confirmation of human
rights in Sri Lanka.

The document also calls for a referendum apart from a two thirds majority to make any amendments to the Constitution which are necessary.